In Search of Lost Time

We are less than a month away from Great Britain’s exit from
the European Union. Hopefully, the Great Distraction will be over. Hundreds of
thousands of man-hours have been lost on the handling of Brexit. We have pored
over the regulations for thousands of areas. We have read the fine print,
scrutinised the treaties, digested the options. And now, it is time to move on
to greater things.

It is difficult to know exactly how much time was spent on
Brexit. But it is undoubtedly considerable. More than the time of the European
Civil Service, a lot of the political time that national politicians allocate
to Europe has been spent on that as well.

2013: Dramatis Persona

David Cameron, then UK Prime Minister made a speech in January 2013. In it, he announced his intent to renegotiate the terms of the UK’s membership of the European Union, and subsequently to hold a UK referendum on its membership status.

2015: Prelude

The saga officially started on the 15th of April
2015 when the Conservative Party manifesto included a pledge to hold an in/out
referendum for leaving the EU.

That was confirmed on the 7th May 2015 when the
Conservatives won 50.8% of the seats with 36.8% of the vote. This was 330 seats
out of a total of 650.

Then, the European Union Referendum Act was passed by both
houses and gained Royal Assent on the 17th December 2015.

2016: Act I

After months of preparation, campaigning and agony from both
sides, we arrive at the Referendum date of 23rd June 2016. The
British public voted on whether to Remain or Leave, with Leave winning at 52%.
The Daily Mail had proudly declared on its cover that morning “Who will speak
for England?”. And a lot of the voters answered.

2017: Act II

It took another nine months for the UK government to trigger Article 50, in March 2017. Indeed, Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the UK Labour Party had suggested that it be triggered in June 2016, but his suggestion was rebuffed.

2018: Brexit Interlude

Meetings, planes, time. And the UK parliament was not able to form a majority for a particular withdrawal agreement.

2019: Act III

We are currently in March 2019 and the UK parliament has not
agreed to any deal yet.

On the 29th March 2019, the default position is
that Great Britain will leave our European Union.

The question that arises now: there are 32,000 European
fonctionnaires who work in the European Commission. 27 Commissioners. National
Politicians. A few pan-European political parties here and there.